Teaching kitten not to attack hands and arms

[tiggycat]

I'm sure there have been hundres of posts like this one and I have been looking through a few of them.
My kitten who has been neutered is 6 month old today and is the worst biter and scratcher i've ever had.
He'll attack my arms biting with all his might, if i just sit on the floor from the other side of the room he'll run at me, if he sits by my feet he'll let me pet him but otherwise unless he's half asleep he'll claw and bite and pull blood.

I've tried distracting him with toys, removing my self from the room for 15 mins, saying no in a firm voice but nothing seems to work.

He's from a litter of six and we got him 3 days before he was 8 weeks and i think his 'birth-parents' used to play rough with him and could have learnt this behaviour from an early age

It's becoming a problem i need a fast and effective way to discouarge this behaviour.

 

[Kieka]

It sounds like you are dealing with two issues. Play aggression and inappropriate claws. The claws are typically being removed from siblings too young so they don't learn how hard to play or (like you are guessing) humans teaching them to play hard. Cats are creatures of habits so once they have learned a bad behavior there is NOT a quick fix to get rid of it. This will take a few weeks to curb and you will have to be consistent with your expectations for the rest of your cats life so he doesn't regain the bad habits.

One thing is you are removing yourself for too long. Cats don't have a long enough attention span to realize you leaving for 15 minutes is related to the attacks.

When he bites or scratches you kinda have to combine the actions. Stand up or move away or turn away physically suddenly while making a loud firm no sounds (tone is more important than what is said here) then ignore for a 10 count and resume activity. If he attacks again then you repeat the action 2-3 more times. Then if it continues you leave the area completely for a few minutes and return to try again. The important thing here is remembering they have a short attention span and your immediate reaction has to be consistent and instant to the negative behavior. There can be no wavering, no laziness on your part, just immediate reaction every single time without fail. You have to get your cat to realize his actions are causing the reaction so any delay or lack of respond will fail to reinforce. 

This has worked on all my cats and even recently when Link was crated for medical reasons and he scratched me to get my attention I reacted even though he is 2.5 years old and usually good. The next time he wanted my attention he reached without claws (he is in a crate near the computer and can touch the person on the computer from the crate) and has continued to reach and pat without claws since. 

You can, and I am hesitant to say this one, lightly (super lightly) flick his nose to get his attention as you say no. The idea is not to hurt or harm him in any way shape or form. Its more like tapping someone on the shoulder and just enough to startle him out of the moment. I would say it is only a once or twice thing if he is so caught up in the moment that he doesn't notice what your reaction is. I had to do this once with Link and it startled him so much he didn't repeat the behavior (he was a kitten and had wrapped himself around my arm and was starting to bunny kick me aggressively. He was latching harder when I tried to pry him off so I flicked his nose with a no and he let go. You could tell he was super confused and he never got that aggressive again which was also me getting used to his cues and making sure I didn't play that hard with him without a toy he could bunny kick nearby).

I am going to assume you have a play aggression problem, as that is what cats usually have when people say they are attacking. Typically they are trying to get you to play more and just have so much energy they want a buddy. Which means you need to try to prevent the behavior entirely by increasing your play time BEFORE he gets to the point where is is attacking. You say you try distracting with toys but have you tried to play before he goes after you? Treat the problem not the symptoms essentially. 

The goal would be to play until he pants when you get up in the morning and before bed. If you can do it more often that is even better. For my fluffs the wand toys with feathers are the best for this (I discourage lasers for more than once a month use because they never catch is and that can lead to long term frustration). Especially when they were kitten I would stand in a spot (preferably near the couch so they had a surface they could go up and down too) and get them running all over the place. Up, down, back and forth, sometimes I would go from room to room with them and have the jump on and off beds, chairs and around other furniture. Once he starts panting, give him a cool off period until he stops and see if he wants to play more. If he does keep going until HE is ready to stop. 

If you can get that energy out before it gets to the point where he attacks that should help some. Combine with consistent reinforcement of the immediate reaction to negative behavior should help your situation. 

I know some people will say get a second cat to give him a buddy to play with. I would be hesitant in this situation given his age and that he hasn't learned play boundaries. I could just see problems with a second cat being bullied.